Covid-19 update: 14,728 new cases recorded in SA

The daily increase and decline of Covid-19 infections continued in South Africa as the country reported 14,728 new infections in a 24-hour cycle.

This was revealed by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division responsible for the surveillance of Covid-19 in the country.

The institute said the new numbers represented a 22.1% positivity rate, taking the cumulative number of laboratory confirmed cases to 2.638,981.

“As per the National Department of Health, a further 384 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 78,377 to date,” reads the statement.

It said that a total of 15.752,534 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

The Western Cape is leading with the number of new infections with 27%, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 25%.

Eastern Cape accounted for 13%; Gauteng accounted for 12%; Free State accounted for 7%; Mpumalanga and North West accounted for 5% each; Northern Cape accounted for 4%; and Limpopo accounted for 3% of today’s new cases.

“Nationally we are seeing a decrease in the number of new daily cases and percent testing positive, however there are some differences in trends at a provincial level,” said the institute’s acting executive director, Adrian Puren.

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He adds that while sustained decreases in case numbers in Gauteng, Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga provinces have been observed, with the other five provinces having either increasing or sustained number of new cases.

“The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape provinces still appear to be on the upward slope of the third wave, although the Western Cape is showing early signs of reaching the peak of their third wave. Whereas the Free State and Northern Cape provinces continue to see a steady number of new cases.”

There has been an increase of 575 hospital admissions.